Caliente
by forensicsfan
Summary: NS - Sent to investigate a suspicious death in Caliente, Nevada, some interesting conversation takes place.


Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, I certainly don't profit from them, but a cup of coffee with George would be nice.  
  
A/N: This was inspired by an interview I read where George Eads talks about an outtake from the radiator cap scene in "You've Got Male" where in the televised episode Nick tells Sara she should get out more. I'll let you try and figure out which line George used on Jorja instead of the real line. And hey, how could you resist a town named Caliente?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I could swear that he got some sort of perverse pleasure in sending us to Caliente on the hottest day of the year so far." Sara Sidle fumed in the passenger seat of the Denali.  
  
"It could be worse, Sara." Nick Stokes drawled with a smile on his face. They were an hour outside of a town called Caliente where they were responding to a request to investigate a suspicious death.  
  
"I'm not sure how." She barbed. "From the sounds of things, it's probably a decomp."  
  
Nick smirked, immune to her bad mood. "Well, Grissom could be with us."  
  
In spite of herself, Sara felt the corners of her mouth pulling upward.  
  
"See." Nick grinned. "You know I'm right."  
  
Sara looked out the window in an effort to not smile. "He really pisses me off. You know that don't you?"  
  
"Yeah, just about everything he does pisses you off, whether it should or not." Nick observed.  
  
She glanced at him and a scowl flitted across her face. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
He had a wry smile on his face. "Exactly what it sounds like. You let him get to you. You need to get over it and move on."  
  
"I'm not interested in him romantically any more if that's what you're implying." Sara slouched and crossed her arms across her chest.  
  
Nick chuckled. "You know what your problem is, Sara?"  
  
Sara's voice was thick with sarcasm. "No, but I'm sure you'll tell me."  
  
"You need to get out more." He just smiled as he drove the Denali down the highway.  
  
Sara rolled her eyes. "Oh, and I seem to recall the last time I took that advice I ended up with Hank the skank."  
  
Nick chortled. "Hank the skank. Boy I'd hate to piss you off."  
  
Sara felt her lips threatening to curve into a smile and tried to suppress it. "It just has a nice ring to it and after a couple of beers with Catherine, it seemed to fit."  
  
"You need to loosen up, Sara. Things wouldn't affect you so much if you found something to do outside of work that didn't involve forensic journals or police scanners." Nick commented sincerely.  
  
Sara looked at him skeptically. "Oh, and exactly how would you suggest I loosen up?" Her sarcastic tone clearly implied that she thought that maybe he got out a little too much.  
  
Nick glanced at her with a mischievous glint in his eye and laid his drawl on thick. "Why don't you let daddy here take you for a nice roll in the hay. That'll loosen you right up."  
  
Sara's jaw dropped. She had absolutely no idea what to make of his comment. "Excuse me?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "Sara, you take things too seriously. You should let me take you out sometime and I'll show you how to have a good time."  
  
She looked at him in disbelief. "Are you asking me on a date?"  
  
"Do you want me to?" Nick was giving her an out.  
  
Sara didn't say anything she just looked out the window for a long few minutes, finally glancing back at him with disbelief on her face. "Do you realize what you just said to me?"  
  
He chuckled. "I told you that you need to get out more often."  
  
She shook her head insistently. "No, you implied that you think I'd loosen up if we had sex."  
  
"You probably would." Nick commented without missing a beat.  
  
Sara's jaw dropped again. "You're serious."  
  
Nick glanced at her and chuckled at her expression. "And you're way too serious." He was quiet for a moment. "The way I see it, I was an idiot for not asking you out when I told you that you should get out more often the first time."  
  
"So, you are asking me on a date." Sara was trying to decipher exactly what he was saying.  
  
He looked at her and smiled. "Not unless you want me to."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hot temperatures combined with low humidity. That's probably why the body looks mummified." Nick observed.  
  
"Perfect conditions in the desert." Sara added. "Glad that it's not more humid, the last thing I'd want in this heat is a serious decomp."  
  
Nick chuckled as he teased her. "Just because you can't handle the smell."  
  
She smirked. "I can handle the smell. It's just the body fluids that get to me. And if you tell anyone, I'll kill you."  
  
Nick shook his head and turned his attention back to the scene they were processing. "I've never told anyone about your penchant for throwing up."  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow in warning.  
  
He tried to restrain his smile. "And I never will. I value my life."  
  
She smiled in spite of herself as they continued to process the scene. "You know you could have warned me about Hank."  
  
Nick glanced up and chuckled. "Do you honestly think that you would have listened?"  
  
Sara didn't look up as she responded. "That's not the point. If you thought he was so wrong for me, you should have said something."  
  
Nick shook his head and laughed. "No offense, Sara, but I highly doubt I could have said anything that would have changed your mind about him."  
  
"You could have asked me out." Sara glanced up at Nick with a smirk.  
  
Nick tried to swallow a grin. "Oh, so were back at that again. Now you want me to ask you out." There was a definite teasing tone in his voice.  
  
Sara was somewhat defensive even as she tried not to smile. "You were the one who said I'd loosen up if we had sex."  
  
"I'd rock your world, Sara." Nick grinned as he continued to process the scene.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"You seem pretty confident." Sara commented with a smirk.  
  
"Well the evidence seems to indicate that he probably died from prolonged exposure to the heat rather than foul play." Nick kept his eyes on the road as they discussed the case.  
  
"Well about that too." Sara chuckled.  
  
Nick looked at her with a hint of confusion on his face. "What?"  
  
She glanced out the window and tried to restrain a smile. "You seemed pretty confident earlier that you could rock my world."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Sara Sidle, are you hitting on me?"  
  
Sara was only slightly embarrassed. "Admit it, Nick. You want me."  
  
Nick glanced at her for a moment with a bit of disbelief and then started laughing. "You are sexy as hell, but I've never asked you out because I thought you'd kick my ass."  
  
"I just might." Sara quipped.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
By the time they got back to the lab, shift was over. They delivered the corpse to Doc Robbins and checked the evidence in before heading to the break room to get some coffee. Grissom stood there pouring himself a cup of coffee as Nick and Sara walked in.  
  
"So how was Caliente?" Grissom looked at them over the rim of his glasses as he took a sip from his cup of coffee.  
  
"Hot." Sara groused shooting him a glare. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the break room table, flipping through a forensics journal that happened to be sitting there.  
  
Grissom glanced at Nick and raised both eyebrows. Nick just shrugged his shoulders and walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee, leaning against the counter and studying Sara.  
  
Grissom narrowed his gaze at Sara. "You know shift is over, you two can go home." Sara ignored him.  
  
Nick took a few more sips of the coffee that tasted as if it had been sitting there for quite a while. "I think I will." He poured the rest of the coffee out of the cup and set it in the sink. "See you guys later."  
  
Sara barely glanced up as he left. She took another sip from her coffee and wrinkled her nose as she continued to flip through the journal.  
  
Grissom cleared his throat. "Sara, you need to find some outside interests."  
  
She glanced up and glared at him. Without saying another word, she stood up and walked out of the break room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Nick had been home for about twenty-five minutes and had settled himself in front of the TV with a beer to try and unwind a little when he heard a knock at his door. Curious as to who could be stopping by, he set the beer down and walked over to the door to answer it. His eyebrows arched up in surprise as he opened the door to reveal Sara standing there. He opened the door further to let her in. "Sara. Uh, what are you mmph?"  
  
Sara cut him off before he could finish his question by pressing her lips to his in a possessive kiss.  
  
Nick's senses kicked into overdrive and he found his arms wrapping around her and pulling her body towards him. Her mouth was opened to him and he found himself being drawn in; all coherent thought flying right out the window. It wasn't until Nick found his hands sliding up her shirt that he realized that his front door was still wide open and some of his neighbors were staring. Reluctantly, he pulled away from her, both of them were a bit breathless.  
  
"Grissom. Told. Me. I. Need. To. Find. Outside. Interests." Sara was trying to catch her breath as Nick closed the front door.  
  
Nick nodded. "Good. Idea." He pulled her against him and placed a searing kiss on her lips. Sara began tugging at the hem of Nick's shirt as they began stumbling towards his bedroom.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I swear the floor is moving." Sara was trying to catch her breath.  
  
Nick chuckled as he lay next to her trying to catch his own breath. "You rocked my world too, Sara."  
  
She rolled toward him, propping herself up on his chest. She attempted a drawl as she looked down at him. "If I'd known that a roll in the hay with Nick Stokes would loosen me up this much, I would have tried it a lot sooner." 


End file.
